This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In various orthopedic surgical procedures, it is necessary to secure portions of a spinal column in a relatively fixed relationship. This need is often a result of aging, disease, damage or congenital deformation. For example, when one or more intervertebral disks of the spine degenerates due to age, trauma or disease, the spinal cord or emergent nerve can become compressed. This condition may result in chronic and sometimes debilitating, neck, back, or peripheral pain.
One method of treatment for intervertebral disk degeneration involves surgical decompression of nerves, discectomy, and interbody fusion. Interbody fusion involves reestablishment of the normal gap between adjacent vertebral bodies. Heretofore, surgeons have employed various types of artificial implants and prostheses to stabilize the spinal column and promote fusion. The gap between adjacent vertebral bodies is commonly spanned with rigid spacer that is filled with bone graft material to facilitate bony fusion of the two vertebral bodies. A successful fusion stabilizes the spine, reduces pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots, and reduces or eliminates back pain.
When posterior interbody fusion is performed, it is generally desirable to reduce the size of the incision to thereby facilitate patient healing. It may be challenging to insert a large enough fusion cage through the posterior access, especially when the disc space is significantly taller anteriorly than posteriorly. Limiting factors include the maximum height and width of the posterior access to the disc space.
While known devices for spinal fixation have proven to be effective in various applications to support the spinal column and promote fusion, they nevertheless can be the subject of certain improvements.